The Special Investigation Team probing the multi-crore fake stamp papers scam on Thursday said it would again question former city police commissioner R S Sharma.

The move came after Maharashtra Advocate General Ghoolam Vahananvati told the Mumbai high court that the state government has filed a charge sheet against Sharma for his alleged role in shielding the prime accused in the scam, Abdul Karim Telgi.

The charge sheet was served on Sharma on November 25. It mentions Telgi's diary containing names of 19 top bureaucrats and politicians.

Vahanavati submitted a copy of the charge sheet along with an action taken report against Sharma. He added that departmental proceedings have been initiated against the former commissioner.

Vahanavati said that in case Sharma disputed the charges, an inquiry officer would be appointed to probe the allegations.

Vahanavati said an analysis of Telgi's secretly recorded phone conversations by the Karnataka police had brought to light the involvement of several important persons.

He showed a confidential report to the court in this regard and urged it to be labelled a classified document.

Referring to the allegations of petitioners that no action had been taken against police inspector Prakash Deshmukh, who was put in charge of the fake stamp paper case when it was unearthed in Pune, and his superior officer ACP Mohammed Mulani, Vahanvati said their statements would be recorded after gathering corroborative material from Telgi's telephone calls.

He said Sharma was not suspended as he was due to retire on November 30.

Majeed Memon, the petitioners' lawyer, however, was not satisfied by the action taken by government against Sharma.